Melt My Heart to Stone
by Tinkerbell3902
Summary: Specks in time (in no particular order) in the relationship between President Fitzgerald Grant III and Olivia Pope.
1. Mine

**A/N**: My first stab at writing Fitz/Liv so please be gentle but of course leave comments. Inspiration for the title of this series is Adele's lovely song of the same name.

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"_I am not yours. I don't show up places because you want me. I am not yours. This is over."_

Olivia Pope – 2x03: "Hunting Season"

**Mine**

"Say it…"

He barely recognizes his own voice as the whisper falls from his lips. Her breath is warm on his face as he hovers above her, pinned down by his gaze and arms. She can't run from him now.

He won't let her.

"Livvie, I need you to say it… please."

Only Olivia Pope could reduce the leader of the free world to begging.

He slowly drags one finger along her collarbone and places the gentlest of kisses on her neck. Her breath hitches at the back of her throat. He knows that he's not playing fair but neither does she.

"I love you, Fitz… I'm yours."

A ghost of a smile plays at the corner of his mouth and he presses his lips to hers.

"Yes, mine… you are all mine."


	2. Seventeen Days

"_You left the team, Liv! You fell down on the job! You broke his heart and you left him open and vulnerable and helpless…" _

Mellie Grant – 1x07: "Grant: For the People"

**Seventeen Days**

Seventeen days.

Steven is in the next room, on her couch, sleeping off the two and a half bottles of Shiraz that they had shared. Next to him is the box that holds the remnants of her tenure in the west wing. They're going to look at new office space in the morning.

The phone rings.

She knows it's him. It's always him. Every night at the same time like clockwork since she handed him her letter of resignation over two weeks ago.

But she never answers.

She curls up with her pillow, clutching it to her chest and wishing with all of her might that just for one second, he's the one in her arms. That the softness would give way to the smooth planes of his chest and the scent of her laundry detergent would just melt into his cologne.

And that's why she reaches for her phone, seeing the blinking light that indicates that she has a new voicemail, and presses it to her ear.

"Livvie…"

His voice is slightly slurred. He's been drinking tonight. Scotch, most likely.

"Livvie... my sweet—sweet baby, Livvie…"

He's emotional and needy and perfect. She's not even angry with him for using that pet name that he knows is her undoing.

"What do I have to do to make this right? What can I do to fix this? We need to fix this, Olivia. Do I need to resign? Do I need to walk away from the White House? I need you to talk to me and tell me how to fix this!"

She hears him exhale shakily, knowing that he's trying to rein himself back in, and she brushes a tear from her eye. Loving someone shouldn't have to hurt this much, she thinks.

"I need you, Livvie… you've been gone for seventeen days and I can't—I can't stand another minute of it."

He lingers on the line for a few moments in silence before he hangs up and her body is overcome with sobs.

He's been counting too.


	3. Rings

**A/N**: Wow! I totally didn't expect the awesome reviews for this... thank you to everyone who reviewed. You guys are awesome. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning whenever I get that notification email that I have a new review :)

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"_Where can this go? Really? Other than me joining the mile-high club with you on Air Force One, how is there any future here?" _

Olivia Pope – 2x04: "Beltway Unbuckled"

**Rings**

"What's that?"

He can feel a wistful smile spread across his face at her question. He slides the small but conspicuously blue box towards her and she eyes it skeptically.

"Something that I want you to have."

"It's from Tiffany's."

He chuckles to himself. Of course Olivia Pope would recognize a Tiffany's box.

"Open it."

She pulls apart the white ribbon and opens the lid carefully. He watches as her eyes water as she flips open the black ring box that's inside.

"Fitz…"

The ring is simple, elegant and flawless… _everything that she is._

"I'm not asking you to marry me, Livvie… god knows that I wish I could though…"

"Then why are you giving this to me?"

Her voice is shaky and before he knows it, he's on his feet, pulling her to him and kissing her. He can feel her warm tears on his face and he hates himself for not being the man that she deserves.

"Because you once asked me about our future. I was going to do it… after the election. If I had lost, I would've filed and this ring would be on your finger right now…"

His voice is low and raspy as his emotions threaten to strangle him from within. He dislodges the ring from its cushion and takes her left hand in his. Mellie, of course, has his grandmother's ring, the one that constantly reminded him of his obligation to carry out a legacy that he wasn't even sure that he wanted anymore.

And he didn't want any of that to taint his perfect Livvie.

"Don't…"

She shakes her head and tries to wrench her hand from his but he doesn't let her, gently sliding the ring onto her finger. He's memorized every inch of her hand so it fits perfectly. He kisses her knuckles, brushing his lips ever so slightly over the gem in the middle of it.

"This… this is what I wanted our future to be."


	4. Undone

"_Many a man has been undone by jealousy."_

Cyrus Beane – 2x03: "Hunting Season"

**Undone**

His fingers twitch at his side as she continues to avoid his gaze.

He's not accustomed to not getting what he wants.

Senator Davis' hand gently rests on the small of her back, thumb brushing over the bare patch of skin that her open back dress reveals, and every smile that touches her lips taunts him, telling him that she's happier without him… better without him.

And it kills him because he's not better without her.

He paces in his private study next to the oval, waiting for her. She is probably giving Tom and Hal hell for summoning her and making her leave her date at a state dinner but she appears soon enough, clicking the door shut behind her and narrowing her dark eyes at him.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. President?"

And then he's kissing her.

Drowning.

Falling.

Losing himself.

When he sinks into her, he's no longer the President of the United States. He's just a man desperately holding onto something that should be his. He's lost so many hours of sleep, thinking about her lying with Davis at night, mewling his name in the way that Fitz thought that was reserved for only him. Olivia can do better than him and he knows that Edison Davis could and would lay the world at her feet.

And he hates himself because he can't.


	5. Gravity

**A/N**: Again, I can't even begin to thank all of you who have reviewed. I honestly was writing these little snippets for myself and I'm beyond thrilled that you guys like them! I've been so excited that I accidentally posted two Fitz POVs in a row instead of alternating like I wanted to. *facepalm* I guess that was my subconscious missing him from the past two episodes ;) but this one and the next one will be Olivia's POV and then we'll go back to alternating...

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"_You've known me a long time… longer than most. You know that I did not fall for some young girl. You know there's only one person I love." _

Fitzgerald Grant III – 1x01: "Sweet Baby"

**Gravity**

"This tub is entirely too small."

She chuckles at his words as more water sloshes around them and spills out onto the bathroom floor. Perhaps it's a mixture of the warm water or the gentle rhythm of the rise and fall of his chest as she lays against him that pulls her into a soothing sense of calm.

It's a welcome change from the chaotic pace of the campaign trail.

"If you're going to continue to complain that we're not in the Four Seasons—"

"All I'm saying is that this bathtub is too small for what I want to do to you right now…"

He presses a kiss to her cheek and then places another one on her neck. Her breath comes in shorter spurts as his hands graze over her calves and move their way upward towards her thighs.

"You have to be a man of the people, Governor Grant… it'll be hard for a working class family to relate to a candidate who thinks that spending upwards of three hundred dollars a night for a hotel is no big deal."

"Yes, but we'd have a bigger bathtub…"

They both laugh as more water spills over the rim of the tub. He turns her around to face him, pulling her into another kiss. They come together in a heap of tangled limbs and his lips slide over hers, both beseeching and commanding her body to yield to him, which it does without any protestation.

"I love you, Livvie…"

It's the first time that he's said the words.

She's never been a fan of big gestures and the words are so small as they fall from his lips that she's almost certain that she didn't hear them. But as his heart beats faster beneath the palm of her hand, waiting for her reply, the gravity of it all comes crashing down on her.

"I love you too, Fitz."


	6. Victory

**A/N**: A thousand apologies for the tardiness of this latest installment. The extended holiday weekend threw a wrench into my writing plans but the fact that there's a new episode tonight was just the fire underneath my butt that I needed to write. Also, thank you guys for the kind reviews for this series. I feel like I can't say it enough.

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"_A man who isn't president can have a life… a life he wants… the life he's always wanted… with the woman he loves." _

President Fitzgerald Grant III – 1x07: "Grant: For the People

**Victory**

There are tears in her eyes on election night.

The room quickly erupts into raucous cheers and applause as CNN announces that Fitzgerald Grant III, the former governor of California, had been awarded the state of Florida and the election had been decided.

He was going to be President.

She had made him President of the United States.

Nearby, one of the staffers pops a bottle of champagne and another throws confetti into the air. Cyrus throws his arms around her and kisses her cheek and she laughs.

She laughs so that she won't cry.

She's still in Cyrus' embrace when their eyes meet. Gerry and Karen play at his feet with the confetti, giggling and throwing it at each other, and Mellie has already dashed off to freshen up her face before they depart for his victory speech. His smile, the one that dazzles despite the weariness of this long campaign season, wavers and she hugs Cyrus even tighter.

"You shouldn't be here, Governor Grant…"

He finds her later, cornering her in the bathroom as she tries to compose herself. She frowns because he's not wearing the red tie that she had picked out for him and he was supposed to have left eleven minutes ago for his victory speech.

"Governor Grant? Really? We're back to that?"

"I guess now I should call you President-Elect Grant—"

"Livvie, this doesn't change anything. I'm still the same man…"

He holds her face in his hands and she shakes her head, laughing bitterly at the untruthfulness in his words. She can't deal with the pet names right now. He was going to be President and she could never have him. She had been foolish enough to hope and wonder what it would be like to be his… to really be his.

But unfortunately, she was very good at her job.

"No… you aren't. You're the President of the United States… and this? Us? This can never happen."


	7. Unmanned

**A/N**: First of all, can I just say how epic the last episode was? I was totally blown away… and I couldn't get this scene out of my head as I re-watched clips so I had to write it down. Enjoy!

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"_My whole life is you. I can't breathe because I'm waiting for you! You own me… you control me… I belong to you!" _

Olivia Pope – 2x08: "Happy Birthday, Mr. President"

**Unmanned**

"Fitz, are you ok?"

His head is in her lap and his breath hitches ever so slightly every time her fingers gently graze through his hair. Her bare legs are silky underneath his cheek and they carry the faintest trace of her perfume that he knows that she sprayed intentionally.

He's putty in this woman's hands.

He turns his face into her skin, kissing his way up her thighs, he feels her body relax, her question long forgotten, and when he finally enters her, he shudders and tears prick his eyes.

"I missed you so much, Livvie…"

He practically chokes out the words and presses his lips to hers before she can say anything. He's never going to want to stop. He's never going to get enough of her. He knows that she is consuming him and he doesn't care. She's ruined him in the most beautiful way possible. She's reached in and awakened something inside him that he didn't even know existed.

Something dangerous.

Something dangerous that tells him that he could watch the entire west wing burn down into ash and smoke with a smile on his face if he could turn around and walk straight into her arms.


	8. Irises & Stars

"She was going on and on about she thought he'd come and call her sweet baby and everything would be fine…"

Quinn Perkins – 1x01: "Sweet Baby"

**Irises & Stars**

He's too still for her liking.

Her eyelids are getting heavy but she doesn't allow them to drop, thinking that the moment that she does, his eyes will flutter open and she will have missed it, that one perfect moment where he would assuage all of her fears and doubts in one glance.

So she counts the number of stars on the pin that she's holding over and over again.

"… forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight."

Forty-eight every time.

And every time she finishes and doesn't see him staring right back at her, a little part of her crunbles inside but she keeps counting.

"One, two, three four…"

She's not ready to say goodbye to him.

"… five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…"

Not now…. not like this.

"… eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen—"

And then she feels his fingers slowly tighten around hers. It's small and she almost convinces herself that she's imagining it but when she looks up at his face, she sees blue irises peeking from behind his heavy eyelids. His hand trembles as he lifts it to touch her face, as if he is checking to see if she's real and not just an apparition, but as soon as his fingers graze her cheek, tears well up in his eyes.

"Sweet baby…"

His voice is low and raspy from fatigue but to her, it's the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Yeah… I'm here… I'm here, Fitz… everything is going to be fine…"

Everything was going to be fine.


	9. Florida

"… which means that you're acting happy because she won't take your calls… and you won't admit that it bothers you and god knows what else that goes on with the Shakespearian drama that is the women in your life. You're ticking, sir. You're a bomb stuffed into a teddy bear, waiting to explode."

Cyrus Beane – 2x03: "Hunting Season"

**Florida**

He hears her before he sees her. He knows the distinct clicking of her stilettos as she strides through the hotel lobby. Gone is her campaign staple of a crisp suit, which is too hot for the summer Florida weather that they had been subjected to since their arrival the night before, and in its place is a gorgeous grey cocktail dress that hugs every delicious curve of her body, stopping just below her knees. He polishes off the rest of his scotch and slams the tumbler down on the bar, rising to his feet in order to catch her, meeting her in front of the elevators.

"Governor Grant,"

Her voice is sharp and curt. All business, of course, and it stings to have her regard him so coolly but based on how they parted earlier, she would've been justified in using every explicative in her arsenal. He allows her into the elevator first before pressing the button for the fourth floor.

"You're back from dinner awfully late."

"There was an accident on I-95."

"You said it was just dinner…"

"And it was just dinner."

"You said that your reservation was at 6:30. It's 12:37 now."

"So now there's a curfew? Good to know. Did you inform Cyrus yet? He's been sneaking back in at all hours of the night from his secret dates with James so if he does know, you're not doing a good job of enforcing the rules."

The elevator lurches to a stop and she storms out, heading in the direction of her room and he's right behind her. She almost is able to slam the door in his face but he manages to squeeze in before she has the chance.

"Olivia—"

"Why don't you just ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

"Ask me if I slept with Edison… go on, ask! But before you do, you really need to think about the fact that you may not like the answer that I give you."

His stomach churns at the sound of that man's name. Of course he could despise the charismatic senatorial candidate for being the darling of the mainstream liberal leaning media on paper but the thought of him anywhere near Olivia makes him want to beat him and his smug smirk to a pulp.

"Livvie, don't…"

"Why not? It's clearly what's on your mind right now, Fitz. You probably want to know if we even made it to dinner. I probably just showed up at his hotel room, right? I mean, why not? He was top of his class at Columbia law, had a successful law career in New York before building his own in DC, not to mention he's brilliant… any girl's dream, right?"

"Stop it!"

He slams his hand against her hotel room's desk and the crack echoes through the small room but Olivia doesn't even flinch but he can see the tears gathering in her eyes and he knows that if she blinks, they'll spill down her lovely face. And then he'll really become undone.

"Just ask me, Fitz."

"Did you sleep with Edison Davis?"

His voice is hoarse and he can barely get the words out. He doesn't want to know. He doesn't want to think about Edison or any other man running his fingers through her dark curls or having her legs wrapped around him.

"No."

He exhales shakily, crossing the room in three strides, and holds her face in his hands, kissing her like his life depends on it. She gives in for a moment but breaks away from him, shaking her head.

"Livvie, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. You know how I feel about you. You know that this isn't a fling for me… and the thought of you with someone else—"

"Edison is a friend, a friend who I used to date… nothing more, and we just happen to be in the state where he is campaigning for the senate..."

"I'm sorry, Liv… I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it."

Hell, he'd get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness if that's what it takes.

"This isn't a fling for me either, Fitz…"

Her words are soothing and he kisses her forehead and holds her. This time, she doesn't fight him but instead wraps her arms around him, tucking her head underneath his chin.


	10. Breathe

"_I've seen you two together. You breathe in sync." _

Supreme Court Justice Verna Thorne – 2x04: "Beltway Unbuckled"

**Breathe**

She finds him in the guest room that night, sitting on the edge of the bed. Even though the house is technically his after the reading of his father's will, he still can't bring himself to sleep in the master bedroom. The sound of her heels on the hardwood floor betrays her and he looks up.

"Liv…"

His eyes are lost, clouded with tears that she knows that he doesn't want to shed. Fitz's father had been many things: difficult, overbearing and critical, but Fitz had loved him nonetheless. And for the first time, she doesn't think about campaign schedules, interviews, or debates. In that moment, she isn't the campaign fixer and he isn't the candidate.

He's drowning and she's his lifeline.

She shakes her head before he can say another word and crosses the room, pressing a finger to his lips to silence him.

"Shhh… you don't have to say anything, Fitz… just let me take care of you, ok?"

She steps out of her heels, kicking them off, and slowly undoes the zipper on her dress, watching it slide off and pool at her feet. She then undoes his tie first and then the buttons on his shirt, peeling it off slowly. His skin is warm beneath her touch. She slides onto his lap, closing the gap between them, and presses her lips to his. She feels his arms encircle her and her fingers rake through his soft but unruly curls. And when she sinks down on top of him, he buries his face into the crook of her neck and shudders at the sensation of being inside of her. She moves carefully, gently even, as if one sudden movement would break him into a thousand pieces.

"Livvie…"

He practically chokes out her name as she feels his orgasm ripple through his body and she follows suit soon after, clinging to him as her heartbeat returns to normal. She brings him down onto the bed with her and he wraps his arms around her and pulling her closer.

She finally allows herself to close her eyes when she realizes that he's breathing a little bit easier.


	11. Anchor

"_You almost died… don't do it again."_

Olivia Pope – 2x11: "A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot and a Liar"

**Anchor**

Powerless.

It's not a feeling that he's accustomed to but it's how he feels.

He's the leader of the free world and yet all he can do is sit on his hands and wait. He can't yell at Cyrus or one of his aides to come up with a solution. He can't bring his advisors or his cabinet members in to give him suggestions or draw up plans for how to fix this. All he can do is wait.

Wait for her to come back to him.

He walks gingerly around the hospital room, unable to sit still for another second but careful not to wake the sleeping little girl in his arms.

Sophie.

She hadn't wanted to sleep, fussing at him for the first hours of her life, but he finally got his way and she fell victim to slumber. He manages to smile for the first time in hours.

Just as stubborn as her mother.

He turns, facing the bed where she lies, and then he's right back in his despair. He's back to being angry at himself for wasting so much time without her, for the callousness that he inflicted on her while he licked his wounds from the fallout over Defiance. All of it just seems insignificant now. He sets Sophie down in her bassinet and sits down beside her, pressing his forehead to hers.

This wasn't how their story was supposed to end.

"Livvie… Livvie, I need you to come back to me. You are not allowed to die... do you understand me? You, Karen, Jerry, Teddy and now Sophie… you guys are my anchor to this world. So, you can't leave me, Liv… not when I just got you back—"

His voice breaks before he can finish and he shuts his eyes, willing himself not to break down again. He had a momentary lapse in composure in front of Olivia's team, who had all come down as soon as Cyrus had let them know that there had been some complications during the delivery. At least they could channel their anxiety to keeping the press at bay but he had no other choice but to just wait for her to wake.

"Fitz..."

She barely even has time to open her eyes before he presses his lips to hers. He then places Sophie into her arms and watches her as tears come to her eyes as she gazes at their beautiful daughter.

And to think that he almost lost this.

"Don't you ever do that to me again, Livvie."

She looks up at him and smiles.

"Ok."


	12. Dirty Mistresses

"_She wasn't my girlfriend. Don't you ever call yourself a mistress, we both know better..."_

President Fitzgerald Grant III - 1x06: "The Trail"

**Dirty Mistresses**

"It's almost morning…"

She opens her eyes at the gentle hum of his voice as he draws small circles on her shoulder blade with his fingers. Through her squinted eyelids, she can see the soft pink streaks of sunrise against the curtains.

"Cyrus will be up soon… he needs to go over some campaign details for the next few days with you."

She attempts to rise, trying her best to hide her face from him and keep her voice measured. But after these long months on the campaign trail, he knows her so well now. He knows when she's pulling away from him, physically and emotionally, and he quickly gathers her back into his chest, wrapping his arms around her torso.

"Livvie, stay… please…"

Perhaps it's in the way that he holds her, like she's about to disappear, or the way that she comes completely undone when his voice glides over her name that makes her wonder. She thinks about what it would be like to walk down the street, just holding his hand, in broad daylight. She wonders would it would be like to sleep in with him instead of sneaking out before the sun came up. She wonders what it would like to really be his. And it's then, with his hands framing her face, that the sunlight catches on his wedding band, unsubtly glaring at her, putting her right back in her place.

She would never be his in the daylight.

Wives are for days. Mistresses are for nights.

Reality can be quite the bitch when it rears its ugly head.

"I can't, Fitz…"

She rises, leaving his embrace and despite his protestations, and slides out of bed. She quickly begins to dress, lamenting the time and internally cursing herself for only being able to sleep soundly with his arms around her. As she zips up her pencil skirt, he comes to her, hands on her hips and lips at her ear.

"You know, I hate mornings… I hate them because they mean that I have to wait all day to hold you like this… to touch you like this… to tell you that I love you over and over again…"

"Fitz—"

He cuts her off by pressing his lips to her neck and she is begrudgingly thankful that he's holding her so close since the feeling of his kisses make her legs buckle. If she didn't love him so much, she would hate him for making her always feel this insatiable need to be near him.

"I hate it when you leave me…"

And with a small kiss at the corner of his mouth, that is precisely what she does. Despite the fact that she does this almost every single day, it never gets any easier to leave his room in the morning but she does. She brings herself back to her room with her bed that hasn't been slept in and prepares for the day. She showers so that no one would detect his cologne on her and she re-applies her lipstick carefully, replacing the layer that his kisses had ebbed away. And when she finds him downstairs with Cyrus, waiting to board the campaign bus, it's almost like it never happened.

"Good morning, Governor Grant."

And there's a flicker of longing in his eyes that brings her back.

"Good morning, Livvie…"

It's **almost** like it never happened.


	13. Pieces

"_You left me all alone…" _

Olivia Pope – 2x19: "Seven Fifty-Two"

**Pieces**

His hand hovers above the doorknob. He can hear her on the other side, sloshing around in the water of their bathtub, and his breath freezes in the back of his throat. For once in his life, Fitzgerald Grant III, former President of these United States, is at a loss for words. He can't find them. He's searched the recesses of his mind to find the words that would soothe her but found nothing.

Nothing that would ever make this ok.

She's exactly where he pictured her, shoulders deep into the water. Her hair, with the exception of a few stray tendrils, is tied up in a bun on the top of her head and her eyes are clouded over, lost in this labyrinth that they were stuck in. He kneels beside her and gently runs his finger across her cheek and she leans into his touch.

"You're home…"

"Yeah… I'm home, Livvie."

He wants to say more. He needs to say more. She needs him to say more. They had been living in this silence since they returned from the hospital and he could barely look at her. He couldn't bear the sadness in her eyes and the hollowness in her voice. He couldn't bear to hold her and yet watch her crumble into a thousand pieces before his very eyes.

She had spent her entire life fixing everyone else and yet, he couldn't fix her.

"I really thought that this time would be different, Fitz…"

"I know…"

"I really thought that this pregnancy was going to take…"

"Livvie, it's not your fault…"

"I'm just tired of feeling like I'm failing you."

Her breath comes in short spurts and then it's taken over by harrowing sobs. Without hesitation, he reaches into the bathtub and scoops her into his arms. She buries her face into the crook of his neck as he carries her into their bedroom, only parting with her for a few moments to retrieve her white and fluffy bathrobe to wrap her in.

"How could you even think that? How could you even think that for a second that you were failing me?"

"You've been different… distant… you've been here but you haven't been present."

"I'm sorry, Liv… I'm sorry… I didn't mean—I love you and I'm sorry if I ever made you feel otherwise."

"I'm not Mellie… you don't get to shut me out… that's not what I signed up for. You don't get to leave me when things are rough. We're a team remember? Through the good and bad…"

He looks down at her, curled up against him with her knees up to her chest. Is that what he's done? Did he leave her? Had he retreated so far into his own grief that he couldn't see or hear her reaching out to him? He presses a kiss to her forehead and pulls her in close, breathing her in. She smells of lavender and vanilla. She smells like his Livvie. Beneath the sorrow, she's still the woman that he loves and she needs him. Everything else comes second.

"I'm not leaving you… ever again. I promise you."

He closes his eyes to force the tears back into their sockets and she tucks her head underneath his chin. They had come together to create this life and they should be able to come together to grieve the loss of that life.

Perhaps they can fix each other.


	14. Appraised Value

**A/N**: So I decided that I needed write something a little bit lighter. The last few installments have been heavy and this one has been rattling around in my head for a week or two and I finally managed to get it down so enjoy! Also, thank you guys for your reviews and for everyone who has favorited/followed this story. You guys rock!

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"_Someone said something very wise to me today: give the person that you love whatever they want. So, I am here to find out… what do you want?" _

President Fitzgerald Grant III – 2x20: "A Woman Scorned"

**Appraised Value**

There are two things that Olivia Pope does when she's angry.

Swimming and cleaning.

With her hair still wet and pulled into a bun on the top of her head from the pool, she hears him come in as she's putting away the mop and perhaps it's the way that he appraises their spotless apartment or the overwhelming scent of Pine-Sol that makes him give her the most apologetic smile she's ever seen because he knows that she's pissed.

_Good, she thinks._

"Livvie…"

"Shoes off, Fitz."

Her tone is biting and he quickly obliges, setting his shoes down next to the front door. Meeting her in the kitchen, he bends over to give her a kiss but she turns, taking a sip from her glass of wine and walking away. That's not going to work this time. She's mad and he deserves to know how mad she is at him.

"Ok… I know that you're upset but a husband can't kiss his wife hello?"

She feels him behind her, following her into the living room. She then sets down her glass on their end table and throws him an artic glare just so he knows how much trouble he's actually in.

"I seem to recall having a husband… a husband who answers his cell phone and returns text messages when he's supposed to be with his wife looking at houses but I don't know where he went."

"My meeting ran long… I'm sorry. I know I should've called."

"This is the third time that you've had to cancel on our realtor, who by the way, called me while I was at the gym to tell me that the house… the beautiful Georgian-Colonial house in Georgetown with an exercise room, patio, enough bedrooms for Jerry, Karen and Teddy, and not to mention a gorgeous remodeled master bath that you and I agreed on would be perfect is now officially off the market! Someone made an offer, Fitz!"

"So you liked the house?"

"What?"

"Did you like the house?"

As much as she loves him, and of course she does, she can't help but to want to wring his neck for asking such an insignificant and quite moronic question. But she sees it, that devious smirk of his. That trademark I-know-something-you-don't-know smirk, and her eyes narrow. He's up to something.

"What did you do?"

"Can't you just answer the question, Liv?"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"I bought the house."

She can count on one hand all of the times that she's been stunned into silence and this is right there with them. He comes to her and kisses her right on her forehead, looking very pleased with himself for outsmarting the great Olivia Pope for once.

"But you—you haven't even seen it…"

"It doesn't matter to me where we live, Liv… I want what you want and you wanted that house so I bought it… I probably grossly overpaid for it to make sure that the current owner would take the offer but the house is ours. The realtor is going to send over the paperwork first thing in the—"

She cuts him off with a kiss because that's all that she can think to do in that moment, to kiss her crazy and stupid but wonderful and brilliant husband for buying the house that she loved without a single moment of hesitation.

"We have a house?"

"We have a house… a huge house, in fact. I don't know what we're going to do with all of that space and I know that we don't have nearly enough furniture for a seven bedroom house."

"Well given your newfound penchant for shopping, I'm sure we can figure something out."


End file.
